


jump then fall into me

by possibilityleft



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fan Fusion, First Fusion, Fusion, Gen, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-13 17:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5710444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"It would improve the integrity of the group if I were able to fuse with another Crystal Gem," Peridot said stiffly.  "I believe that you are the best initial candidate."</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Peridot, Amethyst -- and Fluorite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	jump then fall into me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cookinguptales](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cookinguptales/gifts).



"Amethyst!" Peridot said, well, shrieked, and then realized her mistake. "Amethyst!" she hissed desperately.

"What's up, Peri?" Amethyst asked, yawning and stretching. They were sitting on the beach on a quiet afternoon, one of the first they'd had in awhile. The threat of the cluster no longer stretched above them and the other Crystal Gems were enjoying their break. Steven was with Connie, Garnet was taking herself on a date (Peridot thought that was what she had said), and Pearl was cleaning Steven's room, which had been neglected for a while given their recent troubles. Only Amethyst was here on the beach with Peridot. She said she had nothing better to do, and that seemed to be the case; they'd been sitting here in silence for a while.

Peridot had been thinking about fusion, about how weird it had been when Garnet took her hand and invited her to dance. But Peridot had been thinking about Amethyst after that. Amethyst was closer in size to her, and it was supposed to be very easy to fuse with a quartz. If Peridot was going to fuse with any of the Crystal Gems, it made the most logical sense for her to try with Amethyst first.

"I need your assistance with a secret project," Peridot said, and Amethyst's eyes brightened.

"All right!" she said. "What are we doing?"

Peridot glanced at Amethyst, and then down. She played with the star on the front of her form. It still felt weird to have it there.

"It would improve the integrity of the group if I were able to fuse with another Crystal Gem," Peridot said stiffly. "I believe that you are the best initial candidate."

Amethyst blinked. "Uh, me? Are you sure you don't want to do this with Garnet or Pearl instead?"

"Definitely not," Peridot answered. "The permafusion is just too -- complicated -- and a Pearl, no way!"

Amethyst bit her lip, and Peridot could tell that she'd annoyed her in some way, although she wasn't sure how. That was still happening more often than she wanted. She still wasn't very good at being a Crystal Gem. But surely the act of fusion would help her to better understand them. She would have called it infiltration, in her old life. Now it was "fitting in."

"Of course you're my first choice," Peridot said hurriedly, and that seemed to do the trick, because Amethyst laughed and clapped her on the back. Then Amethyst got to her feet and wiped the sand off her butt. She was so casually confident, and Peridot wanted to feel that again, more than anything.

"Where do we start?" she asked. Amethyst rubbed her hands together and grinned.

"You know how to dance, right?" Amethyst asked, but after a moment's hesitation, Peridot shook her head.

"What are they even teaching you on Homeworld?" Amethyst asked rhetorically, but she seemed unsurprised. "Okay, we'll start with TubeTube. You've got a lot to learn."

*

Four hours later, Peridot was pretty sure she'd seen an example of every single kind of dancing that humans could possibly invent. She didn't feel any closer to fusion, though. Steven's phone finally ran out of power (he'd inserted himself in the midst of their mission with glee), and Amethyst threw it down on the couch.

"Well, how are you feeling? Because I think you could totally rock the techno thing, what do you think?"

"Do the Robot!" Steven put in.

"I'm unsure," Peridot admitted.

"Well, let's just see what happens. I'll start," Amethyst said.

They went back outside. The moon was rising, bright against the sand dunes. Amethyst began to writhe and wriggle -- to dance. Peridot tried out a few awkward twists of her arms, but she couldn't seem to catch a rhythm.

"Come on, Peri, sync up with me," Amethyst said. "You can do it!"

Peridot fumbled for her recorder, but Amethyst bumped her with a hip and it fell into the sand. "Don't record, do!" Amethyst urged her.

Peridot shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she opened them and snatched up the recorder.

She handed it to Steven. "Keep this safe."

Slowly, she began to dance. She didn't try to match what Amethyst was doing, not right away. She'd watched Pearl and Amethyst fuse a few times now, and even Pearl and Garnet one time, which seemed to be unusual for them. They each had their own styles, and now she even knew their names. But that didn't help her dance. She needed her own.

"Hey, Ste-man, you want to give Peridot some space?" Amethyst said, and Peridot heard her even though she was trying to listen to the music in her head. Steven's footsteps crunched away through the sand, and now it was just the two of them, although Peridot was certain that the Pearl, Steven, and Garnet were watching from a safe distance.

She put it away. She thought about Amethyst instead, the way that Amethyst made her feel, all confused and proud at once. She wanted Amethyst to like her. When she smiled, Peridot felt a weird kind of pleasant warmth in her Gem, and she never wanted it to go away. She concentrated on the feeling.

When she opened her eyes, Amethyst was offering her a hand, and she took it. Amethyst pulled her forward, into her chest, and Peridot fell.

When she opened her eyes, she was someone else. Her body -- their body? -- was overwhelmed by new sensations. They were larger now, long-limbed and thick-hipped, with an extra set of arms and hair that would brush their forehead gem if their visor wasn't in the way.

"Cool!" Amethyst said -- they both said, together, in one voice. She looked down at her chest to study the greenish-purple Gem there. She was Fluorite, and she had never existed before this moment. She wanted to jump around and try out all of her new limbs, but she also wanted to pause and map them all out first. She took a step on wobbly legs, and stumbled but did not fall.

The fusion didn't last long. Uncertain in this new situation, Peridot found herself unable to concentrate enough to maintain it. There was so much data she could be notating right now -- why had she given Steven her recorder? Amethyst was much more interested in exploring these possibilities in a practical way, and the indecision unbound them.

Peridot fell into the sand and lay there on her back, panting. She was small again, and separate. She had been successful. She could still feel the warmth of Amethyst against her skin.

"We have to do that again!" Amethyst said, and she was leaning over Peridot, dangling her long hair in Peridot's face. "I felt like I knew _everything_!"

Peridot didn't feel that way at all. She felt like she knew even less than before, but she wanted to figure it all out. She smiled a little.

"Giant Woman!" Steven shouted, running down the hill toward them, and Amethyst sprang back as if she'd been surprised. Peridot stood up in time for Steven to wrap her in a hug. She tolerated it for almost five seconds before slipping free.

"Yes," Peridot said, considering what they had just done and pulling her recorder free of Steven's pocket. "Log Date," she began, and then stopped. "Log Date…" She clicked the recorder off. It would be better to let Fluorite do it later, when she could precisely describe the experience.

"Again," Peridot demanded, and when Amethyst grinned in response, Peridot began to dance.


End file.
